Commonly used clinical scales to measure symptom severity in myasthenia gravis (MG) patients are insufficient to precisely evaluate swallowing problems and predict the risk of silent aspiration, a study reports. Patients with difficulty swallowing and disease severity classified…

Cash-strapped governments across the 28-member European Union are struggling to control runaway healthcare expenditures — at exactly the same time as the promise of new but expensive therapies to treat rare diseases has never been greater. That’s the paradox faced by pharmaceutical companies as well as patient advocacy groups in…

A patient with symptoms of a myasthenic crisis was successfully diagnosed with myasthenia gravis (MG), using an approach called the ice pack test, a case study reports. The study, “Ice Pack Test – An Useful Bedside Test to Diagnose Myasthenia Gravis,”…

Topline results from a Phase 2 trial of  Ra Pharma’s zilucoplan (previously known as RA101495), a potential self-administered therapy for patients with generalized myasthenia gravis (MG), showed a statistically significant decrease in markers of disease severity, achieving both its primary objectives. All the trial participants completed the 12-week treatment; 98 percent of…

The gut microbiome of people with myasthenia gravis is less diverse than that of healthy people, with a rise in pro-inflammatory bacteria and a reduction in protective molecules, a new study shows. The study, “Altered Gut Microbiota in Myasthenia Gravis,” was published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology.

Prograf (tacrolimus) suppressed the proliferation and inflammatory responses of specific immune cells collected from patients with MuSK-antibody positive myasthenia gravis (MuSK-MG), a new study. These results provide early evidence of Prograf’s potential in treating this type of MG. The study, “Tacrolimus inhibits Th1 and Th17…

Myasthenia gravis (MG) onset is more common in men ages 40-70 than in women in the same age range. There are also gender differences in the incidence of MG-related manifestations and comorbid autoimmune diseases, according to a new study. This finding is in contrast to the higher prevalence of…

Use of rituximab can reverse myasthenia gravis-like symptoms in cancer patients being treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors like Opdivo or Yervoy, a case study reports. The study, “Rituximab as initial therapy for the reversal of myasthenia gravis neurotoxicity caused by ipilimumab/nivolumab” was published in the journal Neuro-Oncology and presented at the…

A microRNA called miR-143, which blocks a molecule involved in the development and severity of myasthenia gravis, may be a new therapeutic target, according to a mouse study. The study, “MicroRNA-143 inhibits proliferation and promotes apoptosis of thymocyte by targeting CXCL13 in myasthenia gravis mice models,” was…

Changes in the ratio of dendritic cells (DCs), a subtype of immune cells, may reflect immune system function and could help predict treatment effectiveness in patients with myasthenia gravis (MG), according to a new study. The study, “Imbalance of two main circulating dendritic cell subsets in…